Bye Bye Baby
by SNevaeh
Summary: Bulma started acting strange after the Halloween party. Vegeta didn't care much about the little human and her weird antics, at least as long as she didn't pay him any attention. When she did... he learned a lot about fear. Takes place in the 3 year gap.


**AN: **For everyone who already read this story: I originally posted it as an entry for a Halloween exchange on Tumblr. I wanted to edit it somewhat and ended up changing most of it, so that's why it's posted again as a new story! More on that at the end.

**Warnings! **Lots of violence, blood, self harm (short scene), some swearing.

Alright, have fun!

* * *

"Oi! Vegeta! We're heading out. Last chance to come, too!"

Vegeta stared at her for a while, looking disgruntled as ever. After a moment, Bulma shrugged, gesturing with her head to the door. "With a face like that you don't even have to dress up." He turned around and without another word disappeared into the next room. Bulma sighed, shaking her head slowly. Well, she had tried.

"He's not coming?" Yamcha said, coming out of the bathroom.

"Course not. He's not into 'stupid human activities'!" Bulma laughed, satisfied with her impression of the moody prince.

"Can't say I'm all that sorry," Yamcha said. Next to him, Puar nodded vigorously. Her hatred for Vegeta had only increased with time.

Well, Yamcha was probably right. It would've been interesting, but Bulma had honestly been looking forward to the Halloween party and the only reason she had bothered to ask him was to make fun of him anyway. She grinned at Yamcha, gesturing for him to get moving. While they walked to the front door, Yamcha eyed Bulma's outfit a bit closer. They had been in a hurry and she knew he had been… curious.

"I'm kinda surprised. Thought it would be something sexy."

Bulma looked down at herself, sighed dramatically and opened her torn trench coat to reveal a very torn dress. "I'm always sexy, dumbass. You and Puar look amazing though. I'm impressed." She gave him a nod of approval which he took graciously. Like a lil puppy wagging his tail.

"What an unexpected compliment from you!" He laughed and she almost took it back. Though his maniacal researcher get up with Puar as a rotting ghost was honestly haunting. It would make their entrance epic and for that she allowed him to gloat a bit.

* * *

The party wasn't a very exclusive affair, something Bulma wasn't too excited about. It meant a lot of self-important celebrities, but on the other hand it also meant more people got to admire her. Occasionally, Bulma needed that. She had been a bit miffed when she noticed the amount of sexy zombies at the party, though after close inspection she concluded that she was the best looking one. Even better than all the little movie starlets… With that off her mind, she threw herself into the party and it didn't take long for her to become blissfully buzzed.

Two hours or maybe three later, she had lost sight of Yamcha and Puar. She didn't mind though, not with her brain going slightly numb. There was a reality TV star sitting next to her, a very tall, very attractive man who was probably trying to hit on her. She didn't listen to him, it was more fun to look at his mouth, at that one little leaf that stuck between his teeth. She giggled, which made him even more enthusiastic when she felt a little tired and leaned back. The ceiling was glittering with a myriad of lights, it was so pretty. Giggling again, she looked to the side, where a woman with heavy make-up was getting closer. She was wearing a gold dress that shimmered almost as much as the ceiling.

"Come on Bulma, we're doing a séance over there, you should join! It's gonna be fun!"

Did she know her? Bulma tried to remember, but when the woman took her arm and pulled her up she decided that it didn't matter. Everyone knew her, she was freaking famous! And so pretty. When she looked back, her reality star was animatedly talking to another woman. Maybe he hadn't realized that it wasn't Bulma. The other girl had dark blue hair after all.

They arrived at a stuffed table, a lot of sexy outfits combined and a lot of booze stacked on it. Bulma slipped into one of the chairs and grabbed the cocktail in front of her. It was awfully sweet and weirdly yellow. She grimaced at the taste. The guy next to her grabbed her hand that moment, and the woman with the gold dress on the other side did the same. Bulma giggled again, looking at the candle in the middle of the table. It was black with red writing. So tacky…

"What are we doing? Gonna talk to dead people? I know how you talk to dead people…"

The guy who was holding her hand was laughing. Bulma snorted, she _did_ know that!

"Focus on the light," gold dress said, squeezing her hand slightly. Bulma focused on the candle, trying to see something. Maybe a face. She knew what setup was necessary for that kind of illusion, a little tricky but not too hard, they should've let her do it, people would scream and it would be the best party ever!

Gold dress started talking, some rambling about ghosts and calling forth spirits or whatever, Bulma didn't really listen to it. The light was flickering rhythmically. It was kind of mesmerizing, although that was the proof it was a fake candle. Pretty though. She leaned her head to the side when guy on her left pressed her hand on the table and gold dress started chanting. Bulma giggled, it was too funny, everyone was so serious, she had to show Yamcha if she could find him, tell him that she figured out the trick, all that show and she wasn't fooled and the table started spinning, everyone started spinning, she didn't know how, her hands were still on the table somehow, gold dress holding so tight that Bulma started pulling her hand away, annoyed and a little in pain, she just wanted her to let go, let go, just let… go…

Opening her eyes, Bulma blinked slowly, agonizingly. She groaned, her head aching like it had been split open.

"Hey there, old lady. Back from the dead?" Yamcha's face appeared over her, grinning. He had lipstick on his cheek, damn womanizer. She frowned and lifted her hand to rub her forehead, when she realized that she was lying down. What the…?

"Why am I in your lap?"

"Because it's your favorite place?" He smiled at her, softly. "You passed out and after all the people in your vicinity had freaked out appropriately, they found me to take care of you." He pushed a strand of her away from her head. "What were you doing, getting that drunk?"

Bulma tried to move but let it be immediately. "I'm not that drunk, obviously. There was some cocktail I hadn't ordered, I don't know."

She felt Yamcha stiffening under her and then he picked her up, gently. He could be so nice if he wanted to. Smiling, she leaned her head against his chest.

"Alright, this bench is nice and all but I think it's time to get you home and into bed. If you're not feeling better tomorrow, we're going to call your doctor."

"No need for that…" She snuggled a bit closer to him and was asleep before the plane had started.

* * *

A day after the dress up party of the engineer, the house had been blissfully quiet. Vegeta assumed the engineer just didn't know how to talk with a soft voice in general, so he tried to enjoy it as much as possible while it lasted. The second day of peace and quiet had still been nice but a little weird. That one got drunk often enough, but she was always up again quickly. His theory of her potential death though was rebutted when he didn't smell anything weird and… when he stumbled upon her in the kitchen. She _did_ look awful and she smelled somewhat awful though. He watched her fumbling with the coffee machine. It looked as if her fingers weren't obeying and she usually had very quick fingers. He had watched her work. He was still contemplating if he should help her just to end this display of misery when she got the machine to work and looked up. She flinched, and he almost did, too. Her eyes were bloodshot, her face pale and pasty and her whole posture looked somehow deflated.

"What?" she said with a rough voice. He knew what caused that.

"Have you been taking drugs?"

"Piss off, damn bastard." The coffee was gurgling while she was holding on to the counter. From his experience, this would go on for a few more days. Since everything about her was offending his senses, he decided not to engage further with her by insulting her and left the kitchen. There was another one on the other side of the building he could use.

Two days later the little human was back to normal. Her looks, at least, he wasn't able to judge her state of mind though. Every time they happened to be in the same room she was staring at him, intently, and wasn't even fazed when he started insulting her. It took all the fun out of it and it was putting him off more than he liked to admit. Not that he cared about that damn woman, but if she started to lose her mind and hyper fixate on something it didn't need to be… him.

After a few more days, Vegeta eavesdropped when the weak one was talking to the engineer's parents. They thought the same as he did, just voicing it a bit nicer. Didn't change the facts. She was either going crazy or some drugs had destroyed her brain. Either way, Vegeta was prepared for the worst case scenario. He was positive that the parents would let him stay after their daughter died. Not that it was his fault to begin with. For once… he wasn't at fault at all.

The weak one came to him later, the one with the weird floating animal. Vegeta considered punching him just for the hell of it. He had started meditating, his self control was getting better, so the weak one kept his bones intact.

"Vegeta, did Bulma talk to you? Did you notice something strange?" It must be serious if the human actually talked to him.

"Yes, she's crazy. Or drugged. Or both." Vegeta eyed him, considering that information.

"We thought so, too, but Bulma insists that she is fine. But she's… awfully quiet."

Vegeta sighed and decided that this was a waste of his time. The weak one didn't even react when Vegeta turned around and walked away.

Not long after, he noticed a slip of paper lying on one of the small tables next to the couch. A lot of red writing, elevated blood pressure, slightly dehydrated, drug free. Well. They should just put an end to it, he knew how do to it quickly, he would even volunteer. Break her neck, clean and simple. When he turned around, the letter still in his hand, he froze. The engineer was standing not far from him, staring at him again with her big, blue eyes, her face unreadable. He hadn't even felt her ki.

"I'm not taking drugs. I'm completely fine."

"Yeah, doesn't look like it." He threw the letter away, not caring where it landed. When he walked past her, he smelled it. Something musky, inhuman. It was somehow familiar, if he could just… a shiver ran down his spine and he decided to stay out of her way. He didn't like this.

Finally, the eerie silence ended and the shouting started. Though Vegeta wasn't sure what he preferred, involuntarily being witness to arguments between the little human and her parents, questioning her ability to work. He even saw the personal assistant running away with tears streaming down her face. The engineer was a loud, boisterous one, but she wasn't mean. Not like that. Vegeta was intimately familiar with that kind of person. For his personal sanity, he decided to retreat to his training room even more. It was soundproof and it helped his progress immensely. That way, he could take on Kakarott soon, and… That thought actually made him think. The little human was friends with Kakarott and even that naïve idiot didn't bother with her anymore. She was truly a lost case.

It was a sticky hot morning when he walked over the lawn to his training room, a cold water bottle dangling from his fingers. He was still standing in the doorway when the bottle slipped and started rolling away, so he bent down to pick it up, blindly fumbling for the switch to turn on the gravity. The moment he found it, the console on the other end of the room exploded.

He didn't even bother to move, a tiny explosion like that wouldn't do much harm. But when it hit him, it actually _hurt_, burning through layers of clothes and skin and finally the blast reached him, slamming him outside with enough force to throw him a good way over the lawn. It softened his impact slightly, a comforting thought before he passed out. When he regained consciousness, the little human was standing over him, looking at him curiously. He coughed, his throat burned and his eyes stung, there was some distant noise, screaming, but he couldn't make it out properly. His ears must've been hurt. She turned her head to the other side, then she left.

He had to stay in bed for three days after that. When she had walked into his room with a grin on her face he had thrown something at her. He was still too weak though, didn't even hit. After that he had locked his door. As much as he hated to admit it, she was freaking him out.

A lot of weird accidents happened during the days that followed. Nothing that Vegeta would've been concerned about usually, had it been single incidents. But there was a disturbing number of random shit going on. Some food that had made him throw up for half a day, a cabinet that had fallen over and hurt his wrist. He started to doubt his own mind. No cabinet should be sturdy enough to hurt him. It could have been a side effect from his injuries from the explosion, and he was feeling kind of exhausted lately. The only thing he could think of was to train harder. That should solve the problem.

It stopped when he walked in on the engineer cutting up her arm with a knife, one perfect line after the other. It barely bled. Vegeta felt bile rise in his throat, which worried him more than the human's behaviour. He was used to blood, hell, he had _eaten_ people! And that smell…

When she noticed him, she started smiling and held out the knife. He gagged, fleeing the room.

* * *

It had come to this… Vegeta grinded his teeth, thinking how low he had sunk while he flew to the mountains far east of the big city he lived in. When he had reached his destination, he dropped out of the sky, right in front of the human. The weak one.

"Hey! Your woman is completely insane. She's cutting herself up like a sausage, do something!"

Instead of immediately jumping into action, the idiot stared at him with an open mouth.

"Wha… what are you talking about?"

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "Your woman. The engineer. She is still crazy. And hurting herself." That wasn't the weird part. Sometimes, you had to do that. Sometimes, it helped. But you shouldn't look so… content. He simply knew something was off.

"Bulma doesn't do that!" He took a fighting stance, trying to stare Vegeta down and failing on both accounts.

"Well, I saw it. Do something or I will."

When she was standing over his bed trying to ram a knife into his chest a few days later, he knew that time had come.

* * *

"Where is Yamcha? He could help us. I don't understand, why is no one helping us?" the engineer's mother said.

"Why aren't you doing something! Weren't you training all the time?" The old man was shaking Vegeta, too dumbfounded himself to shove him away. A weak human was able to push him around and they were asking why he wasn't doing something! Vegeta looked around the small storage room, trying to get his head in order to think of a plan. The personal assistant was sobbing in the corner, slowly rocking herself. That one didn't help. The engineer's mother was sitting next to that one with wide eyes and pale as the wall behind her. Probably no help either. The father though… he was old, but he still had his wits.

And Vegeta… an hour ago, he had barely avoided getting stabbed with a huge knife. That alone was hard for him to wrap his head around. She hadn't succeeded, but she had managed to slice his arm up. It shouldn't have been possible, a damn knife hurting him! It was bleeding quite badly, although it had gotten better with the ripped up shirt they had wrapped around it. The other members of the household had already been hiding and the old man had picked Vegeta out of the hallway and into the little room they were now sitting in. Vegeta didn't feel his ki. He couldn't control any of it. It had happened a few times in the last couple of days. He hadn't thought much about it, but… the little human must've done something to him. He didn't know how or why, but she had to be the cause. To make matters worse, they couldn't get out of the house. Vegeta hadn't tried but he had no reason not to believe the humans when they told him they couldn't even smash a window.

That left the question where the other fighter's were. They must've felt Vegeta's ki going out. Shouldn't they suspect he was up to something if he was hiding it? If those damn Earthlings weren't that fucking trusting towards everyone! He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. They couldn't hide forever and one Earthling shouldn't be that much trouble. She hadn't seemed in a hurry, and that meant more time for one of the other idiots to figure out something was wrong. In the meantime… Vegeta tried to center himself, reaching for his ki. Nothing. It wasn't being powerless what bothered him, he could still fight just fine. But an essential part of his being was missing and it actually… it scared him. It scared him to think that maybe the human didn't do anything and he could never get it back. He opened his eyes again, listening intently. So far, she hadn't found them. He looked to the side, where the old man was still trying to fix his phone. If the windows were suddenly unbreakable, Vegeta was pretty sure it was a waste of time, but if it kept the old man from panicking… eyeing the two women, Vegeta shortly contemplated sacrificing them for his own escape, but as long as the house was locked off… their best bet was waiting for anyone to get in from the outside.

Vegeta closed his eyes again when they heard footsteps. He got up, slowly, ignoring the ache in his knees from the uncomfortable position and stopped next to the door. The footsteps came nearer, and then stopped. They looked at each other, shortly, all thinking the same, _she can't know we're in here!_ It could be one of the robots, the house had a lot of them. The steps continued and Vegeta exhaled. He hadn't even realized he had held his breath, it was embarrassing! He grinned, relieved, and took a step back to get back to his spot when an axe splintered the door and stopped an inch from his cheek. He looked at it, not daring to move, not daring to take his eyes away. When she pulled out, he quickly moved back, hoping that the damn human would leave them alone, but she started hacking at the door and Vegeta knew that he couldn't wait for someone else to save him. He grinned when his blood started pumping faster through his veins. Well. The little human had turned into a disgusting, stinking creature, but he was used to fighting monsters. She had taken him by surprise, but that was now over!

"I know you're in there, Vegeta. Why do you hide from me? COME OUT!" She pulled the axe out, leaving a small hole for her too peer through. Her eyes were wide and bloodshot, her pupils dilated. "I tried to be nice, I tried to kill you gently," she said, followed by another blast at the door, "but you just won't die, like fucking vermin you get up again and again and AGAIN!" Another blow. She grabbed through the hole and opened the door. When it swung open, Vegeta barely registered the other three humans' terrified noises. She looked so different… Slightly hunched over, her face contorted with rage and stinking worse than a corpse pit. He gagged, trying to cover his nose with his arm.

"Do you even care, all those who are dead because of you?"

All the humans looked at him. There was no way the engineer could plot his death over his old work. It hadn't bothered her before. The other humans though definitely considered sacrificing him. Cold sweat was running down his forehead and for the first time in so long, Vegeta actually felt… fear.

* * *

At first Bulma thought the hangover lasted for a seriously long time. Usually she got over it fairly quickly, a bit of a headache and a bit of a nauseating feeling for a few hours and everything back to normal. But this time… this time she felt her head spinning for days after the party, she was exhausted to a degree that she had to stay at home and she… she noticed lapses when she didn't remember what she had been doing. It frightened her, more than she wanted to admit. It couldn't be drugs, if anyone had given her drugs she should've been over it already! Bulma tried to relax after she had gone to the doctor and they had told her it had to be stress, she was perfectly healthy, but it was hard. She wasn't sure if she could trust her own head, which… was a new feeling she didn't want to explore further.

And then the nagging thought in the back of her mind started, the one telling her to hurt Vegeta, to make him suffer, any way she could. She tried to ignore it, tried to actively work against it, but she caught herself staring at Vegeta and not knowing how she had ended near him in the first place. When she was certain she was going crazy with the urge to hurt Vegeta almost getting screamed at her in her own head she decided to tell him. To warn him, to make it stop somehow!

But she couldn't. The moment she walked into the same room as him, she stopped dead in her tracks and couldn't move no matter how much she tried to. He noticed her staring and he was definitely irritated by her, but she couldn't tell him that something was wrong and that he should help her! She couldn't tell her parents either, she couldn't even tell Yamcha, the phone simply fell from her hands, as if someone else was controlling her.

When she grabbed a knife and started slicing her own arm, feeling the pain but unable to stop, she spoke the first time.

"_So weak… this is no good."_

"Who are you? What are you doing to me?" Bulma couldn't speak, but she thought as loud as she could, her head hurting with the effort.

"_It doesn't matter, Bulma. We need to… make you stronger. Make him weaker. Make him SUFFER!"_

He walked in on her, slicing her own arm up and she tried to scream, tried to move and DO something, but all she managed was holding up the knife. The voice in her head was laughing when Vegeta sneered and left.

"_Don't help him. He deserves it."_

With that, the other one in her head, the intrusion, was pushing Bulma out. Bulma tried to resist as hard as she could, but all she managed was a grunt before she collapsed on the kitchen floor. When she woke up again, all she could do was watch. Watch as the other one washed the blood from her arm and started inspecting the house for something useful to kill Vegeta.

Bulma could do nothing. She couldn't even cry.

* * *

Yamcha couldn't deny that although he had no reason to believe a word Vegeta said, his visit didn't get out of Yamcha's head. Vegeta hadn't had any reason to tell him of Bulma's state, and Yamcha couldn't think of any reason why he would do it just to piss off Yamcha. He definitely wasn't deemed important enough by Vegeta for _that._

He was still pondering over it when he felt Vegeta's ki drop. That by itself wasn't reason to worry, he had done that the last couple weeks all the time. Maybe training his ki control, whatever. But when Yamcha couldn't feel him after an hour, he was starting to get nervous. It could only mean two things: Either he was dead, which would be great but unlikely, or he hid his ki to do something to deserve to die. He contemplated for a second if he should tell the other's but then again he should simply fly over and see if Bulma was fine. He told Puar though to fly to the next village and maybe call one of the other's, just in case. He… had a bad feeling about the whole thing. It only got worse when he arrived at Bulma's place and all doors were locked and no one answered a phone. Thoughts were running wildly through his mind, starting with Vegeta torturing them to Vegeta killing them which made him slightly panicky until he kicked the door in. It barely splintered, funnily enough.

"Bulma? Are you there? Bulma? BULMA!"

He heard a noise from deeper inside the house and quickly pushed the rest of the door aside to get in. The moment he had left the lawn, he felt his ki drain from his body. Irritated, he stopped, looking at his hands. "What the…"

A scream ripped him from his thoughts and he decided to deal with his ki later and save the day right now.

The sight he got when he came around the corner was one that would be burned into his mind forever. It was completely surreal! Vegeta was struggling against Bulma, who tried to push an axe into his head. Bulma's dad held on to her, though somehow she managed to overpower both of them. Vegeta finally noticed him, panic in his eyes. "You! Do something! She's nuts!"

Bulma started giggling, getting her face closer to Vegeta. "I'm perfectly sane, little king." With that, Bulma loosened her grip on the axe and rammed her elbow into her father's face. Someone screamed again, it was Bulma's mum, when her dad went down with blood gushing from his nose. Yamcha finally came out of his stupor and grabbed Bulma's arm, expecting to be able to pry her off Vegeta easily. She shook him off, looking at him with so much hatred that Yamcha doubted for a moment that it was Bulma. Vegeta used her distraction and kicked her in the stomach, which at least let him get away from her. She wasn't incapacitated much, though.

"I told you she is crazy! Why didn't you listen?"

Yamcha stared at Vegeta, open-mouthed. "I… this isn't Bulma!"

"You are right about that, human."

Bulma swung the axe, faster than her abilities should allow, too fast for them to get away in time. Yamcha pushed Vegeta, seeing the axe swing a millimeter by his fingers, but Vegeta wasn't as lucky. It hit is arm and stuck there, making him grunt in pain. She looked up, at Yamcha, with her awfully bloodshot eyes. Now that she was so close, he could smell it, the smell of rotten meat. _That_ was definitely not Bulma!

"I don't care about you humans. Leave."

Vegeta struggled under her, trying to get his arm free.

"And what happens with Vegeta?" Yamcha asked.

Bulma stared at him wide-eyed. "That one… will die slowly." Her gaze turned back to Yamcha. "Don't feel pity. He doesn't deserve it."

Oh no he didn't, Yamcha knew that perfectly well. But Bulma wouldn't want that bastard to die, Bulma wouldn't want to kill someone in her hallway, so there was no choice. With a scream, he threw himself at her, dislodging the axe with the impact. They both fell to the ground, hard, and he looked up at Bulma's parents and her personal assistant and screamed at them to get away. Bulma struggled under him and just when he looked back she used the handle of the axe to push upwards and break his nose. He wheezed in pain, but he didn't let go. Vegeta had gotten one thing right, she was _his_ girl and he wouldn't let her get up and do something she was going to regret!

"Let go of me! LET GO!" She struggled harder, trying to punch him but he grabbed her arms until she finally head butted him, right on his broken nose. It distracted him enough to loosen his grip just a fraction and Bulma used it well by kneeing him in the balls so hard he saw some stars. She pushed him to the side, still wincing in pain while she got up quickly and followed the trail of blood that was undoubtedly coming from Vegeta's arm.

"What the fuck did he do…"

Yamcha got up, grunting but pushing through it. It was only a broken nose, he could handle that. They hadn't gotten far. Right when Yamcha came around the corner Bulma tried to decapitate Vegeta, but it stuck in a table. Not believing his eyes, Yamcha saw the front door, all shiny and new and he realized that they were in way more trouble than he had thought at first. He ran past Bulma and grabbed Vegeta, half-dragging half-carrying him away from her as quickly as possible. Without his ki it wasn't that fast, but it had to do. They had to figure out what was going on before they both got killed! They entered the kitchen and Yamcha let Vegeta fall on the floor unceremoniously while he locked the door. That should keep her away for a little while. He grabbed a kitchen towel and wrapped it around Vegeta's arm, noticing that he already had a badly bandaged wound on the other one.

"Spill, bastard."

Vegeta grunted when Yamcha pulled the makeshift bandage tight. "What?"

"What is going on!" Yamcha almost screamed. He was really running low on patience and Vegeta better not tried playing dumb.

"I don't know. She is trying to kill me. I think… she has tried before." He looked around the room, frantically. "Since she came back from that costume thing. She's smelling like death."

Yamcha frowned, trying to make sense of that. "What did you do? What did you do to her?" He pushed him, but Vegeta pushed back, hard. He was obviously feeling better.

"Nothing! At least give that damn bitch a reason to kill me!"

"She had plenty!"

"But does she usually call you a human?" Vegeta grinned, so proud of his little insight. "Our ki is gone. The door is repaired that _you_ kicked in. Your little woman is gone."

"You don't know that," Yamcha said, getting into a fighting stance. "And I'm not going to kill her because of it."

Vegeta started laughing, hysterically. "I don't think that's a problem when she's killing us first!"

"We… only have to stop her. Restrain her. After that, I'll figure out how to get her back." Vegeta didn't look convinced, but Yamcha needed him to get this done. "Are you helping me or what?"

Smirking, Vegeta got up and took one of the knives from spot on the wall. "I won't kill her."

There were a lot of other things he could do, but Yamcha was running out of options. He went to the door and the moment he opened it he hissed and ducked, barely avoiding the axe aimed at his head.

"I warned you, human." Bulma pulled it out of the floor but dropped it with a scream when a knife pierced cleanly through her arm. The smell was nauseating, every drop of blood that was splattering on Yamcha was worse.

Vegeta grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the doorframe, the other hand still holding on to the knife that he tried to push into her stomach. She clawed at his arm, kicking his shins but he didn't let go. He didn't let go and she was already turning purple. Eyes wide, Yamcha grabbed Vegeta, trying to pull him away from her.

"What are you doing? Let go!" With a scream, Vegeta released Bulma. She had managed to push her fingers into the deep cut in his arm, making both Vegeta and Yamcha stumble back. Panting, she slid down the door, grabbing her wrist and pulling her arm free of the knife.

She eyed it curiously. "So weak… Little nakatagjin, little king, they are all so weak. So much effort just for you."

Yamcha felt Vegeta stiffen in his arms. They both struggled to get up again when Vegeta said something in a language Yamcha couldn't understand. Bulma started laughing, a shrill, hysteric laugh. "I can tell you before you die. Not yet, not yet." She swapped the knife to her other hand, ready to attack again when Yamcha kicked her feet out from under her. She barely managed to grab onto the doorframe and Yamcha could only yell: "Grab her!"

Vegeta immediately jumped up, ramming his elbow against Bulma's temple and with a disgusting crunch, she dropped on the floor.

"Did you… is she dead?"

Vegeta huffed, staring down at the limp body. "No. Our ki is still gone."

Not trusting that, Yamcha dropped down and felt her pulse. Still there.

"We should restrain her. If you don't want to kill her right now." Vegeta grinned but it lacked conviction. He was right, though. The cut on her arm was barely bleeding, who knew how fast she would regain consciousness.

"Fine. Ok. Get her parents."

Vegeta snarled but he obeyed. That alone was probably the weirdest thing that had happened so far.

* * *

Barely fifteen minutes later they had bound Bulma down on a chair, arms on the back and both legs tied down, just to be sure. The personal assistant had locked herself in a bathroom, which was probably for the best right now. Not-Bulma had said she didn't want to kill humans. Her parents were sitting opposite her, on the couch, Bulma's mother clinging to her husband who had gotten two tampons for his nose. It could've been… hilarious. Yamcha didn't feel like laughing though.

They had… tried breaking the doors. The windows. It didn't work. No one needed ki to break a window, so there was only one option left. Vegeta hadn't answered when Yamcha had asked him about not-Bulma's motivation to kill him, but it was obvious that Bulma was possessed by something. Something with frightening magic powers.

And when not-Bulma woke up again, she screamed bloody murder.

"Get me out! GET ME OUT!" She screamed on the top of her lungs, rattling the chair so hard Yamcha was afraid it would break. "Why don't you kill me? YOU did it LAST TIME!" She screamed again, her head rolling from side to side until she stopped, staring at Vegeta with her bloodshot eyes.

"I remember killing one Saiyan, and you're definitely not Nappa."

She grinned, giggling like a maniac.

"Wait a minute, you're a dead Saiyan? How did you… why…" Yamcha felt his head spinning. This couldn't be. This wasn't possible! He could believe a magical dragon fulfilling wishes, but a dead alien possessing his girl, that had to be bullshit!

"Human, listen, let me go and I'll spare you. Let me kill him and I'll leave, I promise."

"Don't listen to her." Vegeta sneered, and not-Bulma grimaced. "I can't have hurt you, so you're completely nuts. We don't need to bargain with that."

Yamcha assumed he simply didn't want to die when not-Bulma screamed again: "YOUR FATHER DID! He sent you away to safety and left us all to DIE!"

Vegeta started laughing, harder and harder until he held his sides. "What? You were working on possessing someone for that? You should've spent your time checking out what the living were doing, bitch."

Not-Bulma started struggling again, her whole body rocking forward and backward. When the chair almost tumbled over, Yamcha grabbed it only for not-Bulma to bite his arm so hard he heard it crunch. He screamed, pulling her hair to let him to, he didn't want to hurt her but damn, he had never been bitten! Vegeta went over and pinched the underside of her arm, twisting it until she let go with a pained scream. He quickly got a step back and looked at Yamcha, who was holding his arm which was bleeding profusely. For fuck's sake…

"She can still feel pain."

"Yeah thanks for pointing that out, asshole!"

He turned towards not-Bulma again, a terrifying look in his eyes. "What happens if I kill you?"

She sneered and spit out some blood. Vegeta got a little closer. "You go back to where you came from, hm? But if I torture you… you'll feel it. And get something to hate me for."

This… was going in a direction Yamcha didn't like, and Bulma's parents thought the same. Her mother got up, pushing Vegeta who looked up with a frown. "You're not going to hurt my daughter!"

"That's not your daughter."

"She's still in there and you will not lay a hand on her!"

Not-Bulma's laughter turned into a gurgling sound until it turned into a whimper and she started crying. Weird.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I couldn't… I couldn't stop it, I couldn't." Her mother immediately hugged her and Yamcha wanted to point out it could all be a ruse, Vegeta already trying to pull her back when Bulma bit down hard on her mother's neck, staring Vegeta straight in the face. She wasn't going to go down easy and then all hell broke loose.

Bulma's mother was still screaming and trying to push her daughter away, when not-Bulma ripped her arms free and punched Vegeta hard in the face. He fell back and she let go of Bulma's mum, pushing her away as if she was nothing. She grabbed the pieces of fabric that bound her ankles and ripped it apart, punching Vegeta again when he tried to get up.

"Torturing me? What do you think I did the last twenty years?" When she was free, she kicked down on the chair, breaking it in pieces and taking one of the legs. "And you…" She looked at Yamcha who involuntarily took a step back. If she could do all that, maybe she was channeling their ki into her. If that was the case…

"You lost your chance." She threw the leg so fast Yamcha barely managed to raise his arms and it hit him square in the head. He dropped down like a fly.

* * *

She was humming, a saiyan lullaby. Vegeta didn't know how he remembered that song, he didn't know why she was humming it, he only knew that his head was _pain_ and his arms were _pain_ and he couldn't remember the last time he felt like he couldn't get up anymore. She was dragging him by his ankle, he had no idea where she wanted to go but he also didn't want to find out. If the weak one had gotten in… where were the other human fighters? Where was Kakarott when you needed him?

"You're a tough little cockroach, you know?"

"How… do you… even know what that is?" It was a little hard to breath and talk and not choke on the blood from his broken nose. It was still the least of his problems. The puppet tipped at her head, slowly. "Bulma knows so many things. I waited for a long time for this opportunity. It wasn't easy, you know?" She pushed open the door to Bulma's lab, dragging him right into the middle of it. "So many variables… possessing is… painful…" She hissed, rubbing her head. "You never were at the right place, with the right people. But humans… humans are easy. Humans are so similar. I just had to… get close to you. But Bulma walked happily right into it."

Whatever had happened at the costume thing, it must've been one hell of an experience. She wasn't facing him, and he slowly sat up. His legs were fine, he only needed a moment to let his head to stop spinning.

"All that for killing the one who had nothing to do with it all?"

She turned around, her eyes almost completely red now, her skin turning even greyer. "If it hadn't been for you we would still be ALIVE!"

It was… it was so ridiculous. "Do you really believe that? Didn't you meet Freeza in the afterlife?"

She eyed him, curiously. "He is dead?"

"I thought _Bulma_ knew a great many things."

She cocked her head to the other side. "How? Who did it?"

"You wanna know?"

"WHO DID IT?" The axe was back in her hand. How hadn't he noticed that before? "ANSWER!" She swung it and he barely moved his leg to the side.

"YOU WANNA KNOW? YOU think you're the only one who SUFFERS?"

She pulled the axe out of the floor, leaving a nice little whole in the rubber coating while he finally regained his strength and jumped up. "A super saiyan." With that, he turned around and ran, down the hallway back to the living room where he hoped the weak one was still lying. He heard her coming after her but he couldn't deal with that right now. He couldn't defeat her alone and he needed help. As pathetic as it was, it was their only chance.

Turning around a corner, he almost broke down the door, seeing the human groaning but not quite up again. The parents were a few feet away, sobbing, they were no help. "Get up! Get up, damn you, you are needed one time in your miserable life!"

Vegeta shook him and finally Yamcha opened his eyes when Bulma crashed through the door, her eyes purple and her lips almost black. This… "Get up! Come on!"

Yamcha barely registered what happened when Vegeta dragged him up and started running. He knew where to go. She was getting stronger, but not that strong. They could think for a moment what to do. If she killed the parents in her rage… well. Better them than him!

"Stop running!"

It took a few seconds for the human to regain full consciousness, until Vegeta could stop dragging him, but he was following still. That was good.

"Where are we going?"

"Garage. Metal door and…" He huffed. When had running been exhausting the last time? "…and hard walls." The rounded a corner, quickly running down a few stairs and ripping open the door as fast as they could. Once inside, Vegeta was panting hard, trying to figure out how to block the door. It could be blocked… right?

"You… have to…" The human pointed to a button on the right side, breathing hard. Vegeta pressed it and a sign appeared that it was locked.

"And now?"

Vegeta looked over the room. There were a few cars standing around, a van, a… plane? He slightly shook his head and immediately regretted it. "We wait."

"For what?" But he followed Vegeta to one of the cars, a convertible, and sat down next to him. Vegeta felt his breathing going back to normal and hadn't it been for the ghost it could've almost been relaxing.

"It's getting stronger. The engineer wasn't strong enough to get away from that chair. But…" He opened his eyes and looked at the human. What was his name again? "…it's also deteriorating. The smell is getting worse, and it looks like a corpse."

The human frowned, but he had been unconscious, so of course he didn't remember. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying… we're going to wait until it can't stay in that body any longer and the problem should solve itself."

It took a moment for the dramatic wide eyes and the shocked gasp. "You want her to die?"

"I don't want the little human to die." He stopped for a second. Because… it was the truth. Look at that. "I only want whatever is possessing her to go away. Or do you have any better idea?"

He looked away, eyes moving frantically over the dashboard. "I… how did this happen?" He dug the palms of his hands against his eyes, and for a split second Vegeta thought about saying something nice. He really had been hit in the head to often today…

Their thoughts were finally interrupted when the bumping against the door started. Vegeta had expected it, but it still kept him in high alert.

"She's… you think she's getting through?" The human looked at him with worry, even a little fear. Not that Vegeta was feeling all that happy and secure right now.

"Metal door. Hope not."

A few moments later, the intercom on the wall started crackling with an incoming message: _"Yamcha, can you hear me? It's Dr. Briefs!"_

Yamcha jumped up from the car, sprinting over to the device on the wall. He quickly pushed a button and said: "Yes, I'm here! Are you ok?"

_"Well enough. I went to the lab, since Bul… since that thing had dragged Vegeta there. It was assembling a robot, I think it wanted to transfer itself into it."_

Yamcha turned around, and Vegeta shrugged. "It fits."

"Vegeta thinks it can't stay in Bulma's body indefinitely and will have to leave eventually."

_"I thought something along the line and destroyed the robot. We have no prototypes lying around, so…" _There was a pause. _"Please don't let my daughter die."_

"Just use the damn Dragonballs!" Vegeta snapped, finally done with that. Did they even know how many people he had watched die? Killed himself? He wasn't going to lose everything over one damn human!

"_…He's right. Be careful."_

"Go and hide somewhere. We'll keep it occupied until it has to leave."

The intercom went out the same moment a dent appeared in the door. Well.

"We need a car!" Yamcha's head snapped around, darting to one of the vans. He turned it on and drove over to the door, blocking the entrance.

"You think that's gonna keep it out?"

"Might as well try…" He got out, and Vegeta and him were both listening to the banging getting more vicious with the second.

Vegeta eyed the human, _Yamcha_, carefully from the side. His forehead was showing a nasty bump and blood was running over his face, but he… Vegeta wouldn't ever say it out loud, but without him he would probably be dead already. Who would have thought that.

"She's coming."

The door gave way and started pushing the car away. Without a second thought Vegeta grabbed one of the metal tools that were lying around, and the moment the door opened wide enough for a human, he slammed it down. Yamcha didn't stop him, but… a hand stopped it. A dark grey hand, stinking so bad that Vegeta almost dropped his makeshift weapon.

"Ve-ge-ta~ stop RUNNING!" She pushed against it and he flew across the room, crashing against one of the cars hard enough to make the glass splinter. He grunted, barely back on his feet when Yamcha ran against her, trying to hit her. She was blocking his attacks, instead landing a hard punch against his gut that made him spit blood followed by a kick right against his kneecap. The loud crunching sound made sure he wouldn't stand up again soon.

Vegeta sneered and pushed away from the car. He still had the tool in his hand, and the engineer didn't look as if she would make it much longer. Her eyes had turned purple, her mouth was dripping dark blood and her whole skin looked rotten. And still she was stronger… Was there a way…

Eyes widening, he turned around and got into the car he had slammed against. He hadn't droven an Earth vehicle, but how hard could it be? The engineer, realizing what he was about to do immediately sprinted towards him, but he had managed to get the car going and pressed down the acceleration pedal, right into her. She flew across the room, connecting with one of the pillars. A human would be dead, but she was getting up again. With a grunt, he pressed down on the pedal again, nailing her against the pillar. The tires were burning, and Yamcha was screaming something from the side, but he was determined not to let her go until whatever was in her would go straight back to hell!

"NOT THAT EASY!"

She was still moving, and slammed her hands down on the car, her fingers curling into the metal. Grunting, she pushed against it, making more blood spill from her mouth until… until she pushed it away with a scream. The moment she was free she slammed her fist down again, crashing the hood of the car. The motor was dying, and before Vegeta could react she had ripped of the car door and pulled him out by his arm, throwing him on the floor. He connected badly and his vision blacked out for a second when his shoulder hit the concrete floor full force.

"Enough! You're going to die now."

"Dr. Briefs destroyed your robot body!" Yamcha screamed from the side. He was crawling towards them. "You got nowhere left to go!"

The engineer cocked her head to the side. "Are you sure about that?"

Vegeta tried to sweep her legs from under her, but it didn't matter if she was looking at him or not. She only moved half a step to the side and kicked against his stomach. He coughed, trying to hold it together. Just a few ribs, not so tragic…

She leaned down, and grabbed him by the hair. "You mentioned something… a super saiyan. Did you LIE?"

He punched against her arm, but a car at full speed hadn't startled her. It was futile.

"I did not!" The pull was getting stronger and he was lifted off the ground quite a bit.

"Who? WHO was it? Spit it out, traitor!"

Ridiculous, this was completely…

"It was Vegeta, you stupid bitch! He avenged all of you! Let him go!" Yamcha had almost reached them and for a second, she stopped. She seemed frozen, right before her hand released Vegeta and he dropped like a wet sack on the floor. "It doesn't matter. Not anymore."

And with that, she fell on her knees, screaming her lungs out while more black goo was dripping from her mouth. Vegeta stared at her, hoping that this would be it, hoping that it would simply be over and then the screaming stopped and she dropped forward, her eyes rolling back into her head while she slumped on the floor. Her skin was rapidly going back to its natural colour and for a short moment, Vegeta felt his ki again. His head snapped up when the screaming returned. Yamcha was crying out, scratching over his head as if he was trying to get rid of… oh fuck!

Vegeta jumped up, grabbing Yamcha by the shoulders and shaking him. He didn't want to kill him, funnily enough, but he didn't have enough strength left to fight a second time!

"No! Get out get OUT!" He was shaking, and blood was dripping on Vegeta and then… Yamcha deflated. He went completely limp. Vegeta let him carefully down on the floor and went a step back, in case the possession had worked. He didn't want to get bitten.

A few horrifying seconds ticked by, when Yamcha groaned and propped himself on his elbow. Vegeta didn't dare move.

"He's gone."

"Who?" Vegeta stared at the black head when Yamcha finally lifted it. His eyes looked normal. He smelled normal.

"The ghost. Is gone." He smiled and Vegeta's ki rushed back into him like a gentle breeze. He let it settle, getting control of his body back, assessing the damage. He had worse. But… Chuckling, he picked the little engineer up, _Bulma, _still breathing, still alive, and went over and grabbed Yamcha under his arm. Time to get out of here.

They made it up the stairs when Vegeta let both of them glide down on the floor. He was so exhausted… and he felt Kakarott's ki barging in, the Namekian, the little bald guy… where the fuck had they been anyway?

And then he looked at Yamcha. "Good job."

Yamcha offered half a smile before he passed out.

_Fin._

* * *

**AN: **Alright, as I mentioned at the beginning, I did rewrite most of it. Reason for that… well, this story had been one of my most popular ones, and I had been quite pleased with it as well. UNTIL I read it again recently, and thought that the pacing was horrible and that the plot had more holes than a good, tasty cheese. In the end the story is still exactly the same, Bulma gets possessed by a saiyan ghost that wants to kill Vegeta and they have to fight her. But I think it is a bit more detailed now, and it makes more sense haha.

Also also I had a lot of fun with it and decided that I will write a separate oneshot about Bulma, Yamcha and Vegeta getting it on. Because there's a lot of unresolved tension in here!

Well, hope you liked it and since the spooky season is coming, I will see about updating 'Baby your time is up'

See you next time!


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